India’s appetite grows for local, seasonal produce and indigenous food

The global food system is the one of the important drivers of biodiversity loss, with agriculture, given its demand for land and pesticides, being the identified threat to 86% of species at risk of extinction. Some studies have shown that planting local produce and practising sustainable agriculture can reduce the need to clear forests and pressures on biodiversity.

Monocropping, or growing a single crop species, of non-indigenous, high-yielding staples – driven by policies and government subsidies – has further affected the already declining popularity of indigenous or local produce. Adding to this, consumer trends have boosted the demand for exotic foods, says Sumeet Kaur of Spudnik Farms in Bengaluru, Karnataka. She cites broccoli as an example, and says, “It was a vegetable unheard of until the 1990s, which was then popularised by restaurants and magazines and is now commonly seen in local vegetable markets and people’s diets.”

Of late, however, there seems to be an increasing shift towards local produce. As per the 2024 India Food Services Report, the National Restaurant Association of India has identified “sustainability” as a key consumer trend. “Consumers are becoming more aware of where their food comes from, about locally sourced ingredients,” Sagar Daryani, president of the restaurant association, a body representing over 500,000 restaurants in the...

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